Some of the best waterfowl hunting in the nation. Learn and share your experiences duck hunting in the Republic of Texas. From the Canada geese of the Panhandle to the Snows of Houston and estuaries for ducks on the coast and the livestock impoundments to the west.

Im puttin the boat in the friday night before the opener and goin by boat to gator fest for a bit (if anyones going to be there...) then after it shuts down im goin to camp out and spend the night in my honey hole for opening morning so nobody sneaks in and beats me to it. anyone else here do this or am i the only crazy SOB thats this mad at ducks?

Now that I live in Cypress I do the same thing your thinking of doing every friday night during the season since its a 2 hour drive by vehicle then an hour by boat to my honey hole in louisiana the only suggestion I can make is get some mosquito netting and a tiki torch or two I have a pop up blind so I just put mosquito net across the top and dry dock the boat on the bank and its really comfortable plus I've always got my spot so it makes it worth it when I don't have to deal with the screamin idiots

That's is a little crazy but I would probably do the same if I had a sweet spot on coastal waters. . To beat the crowd in my area you don't need to worry about that. Most of them launch at shooting light I would not sleep a wink in the boat, but who does on opening day eve?

I'm looking forward to Gator Fest, but won't be sleeping in my boat...do you think all the extra boat activity will have an adverse effect on your hunt?

I have a strong feeling that there are going to be more boats than usual this year...hopefully we won't push all the ducks out, and you'll get a limit early.

Good luck & Happy Hunting!

Theres always a ton of boats out opening morning, normaly nowhere left to park at the ramp. I dont think boat traffic will make much of a diffrence, most of the traffic will be on the main river and fort anahuac. It always sounds like WW3 over there and i can never get to my spot early enough without some one beating me to it. So i decided this year im just going to spend the night im my boat, in my spot i have a pretty good feeling though im going to have some jackwaggon show up at 4:30 thinking hes going get my spot with me in it and set up 75 yards from me. Happens every year......

I'm looking forward to Gator Fest, but won't be sleeping in my boat...do you think all the extra boat activity will have an adverse effect on your hunt?

I have a strong feeling that there are going to be more boats than usual this year...hopefully we won't push all the ducks out, and you'll get a limit early.

Good luck & Happy Hunting!

Theres always a ton of boats out opening morning, normaly nowhere left to park at the ramp. I dont think boat traffic will make much of a diffrence, most of the traffic will be on the main river and fort anahuac. It always sounds like WW3 over there and i can never get to my spot early enough without some one beating me to it. So i decided this year im just going to spend the night im my boat, in my spot i have a pretty good feeling though im going to have some jackwaggon show up at 4:30 thinking hes going get my spot with me in it and set up 75 yards from me. Happens every year......

I hate when that happens...IMO setting up within 300 yards of another hunter should be considered harassment, and we should be able to B****slap anyone not in compliance.

Maybe we should print a couple copies of the information in this link, and pass it out at the ramp on opening morning. Lol

I'm looking forward to Gator Fest, but won't be sleeping in my boat...do you think all the extra boat activity will have an adverse effect on your hunt?

I have a strong feeling that there are going to be more boats than usual this year...hopefully we won't push all the ducks out, and you'll get a limit early.

Good luck & Happy Hunting!

Theres always a ton of boats out opening morning, normaly nowhere left to park at the ramp. I dont think boat traffic will make much of a diffrence, most of the traffic will be on the main river and fort anahuac. It always sounds like WW3 over there and i can never get to my spot early enough without some one beating me to it. So i decided this year im just going to spend the night im my boat, in my spot i have a pretty good feeling though im going to have some jackwaggon show up at 4:30 thinking hes going get my spot with me in it and set up 75 yards from me. Happens every year......

I hate when that happens...IMO setting up within 300 yards of another hunter should be considered harassment, and we should be able to B****slap anyone not in compliance.

Maybe we should print a couple copies of the information in this link, and pass it out at the ramp on opening morning. Lol

I'm not that mad at the ducks anymore. Got a lease. Now I get up at 4am. Of course the lease doesn't have much water so I may have to get more motivated this year.

Really dont have the "15 minutes before legal time" problem. Most people here have enough common sense to stay alittle over legal distance and they do get out pretty early. The only problem like that is the jack asses that wake up around 8 and decide to go ride around in their air boats.....

1) do not drink and operate your boat after gatorfest. The GWs will be in full force on the water and will give you a BWI. GWs were also out there yesterday marking duck blinds on GPS I guess. They bounced all around in the marsh in their airboat.

2) Make sure you know where you are going. There are some giant chunks of concrete in the middle of Anahuac pocket.

3) Might want to scout first. As of yesterday, there were no birds. Only mottle ducks.

4) I hope all yall are done by 730. At 731, Im coming up onto the flats in the big boat.

And for goodness sakes, if yall have permanent blinds or temporary blinds in the pocket, don't use t-posts and just leave them out there... and if you aren't going to use a blind anymore, go out there on a north wind in February and cut down the posts to ground level.

1) do not drink and operate your boat after gatorfest. The GWs will be in full force on the water and will give you a BWI. GWs were also out there yesterday marking duck blinds on GPS I guess. They bounced all around in the marsh in their airboat.

2) Make sure you know where you are going. There are some giant chunks of concrete in the middle of Anahuac pocket.

3) Might want to scout first. As of yesterday, there were no birds. Only mottle ducks.

4) I hope all yall are done by 730. At 731, Im coming up onto the flats in the big boat.

And for goodness sakes, if yall have permanent blinds or temporary blinds in the pocket, don't use t-posts and just leave them out there... and if you aren't going to use a blind anymore, go out there on a north wind in February and cut down the posts to ground level.

Other than that, I hope yall kill some.

What kind of big boat do you have that you don't want to poke a hole in...how selfish of you! The t-post add needed minerals to the marsh as they rust away.

1) do not drink and operate your boat after gatorfest. The GWs will be in full force on the water and will give you a BWI. GWs were also out there yesterday marking duck blinds on GPS I guess. They bounced all around in the marsh in their airboat.

2) Make sure you know where you are going. There are some giant chunks of concrete in the middle of Anahuac pocket.

3) Might want to scout first. As of yesterday, there were no birds. Only mottle ducks.

4) I hope all yall are done by 730. At 731, Im coming up onto the flats in the big boat.

And for goodness sakes, if yall have permanent blinds or temporary blinds in the pocket, don't use t-posts and just leave them out there... and if you aren't going to use a blind anymore, go out there on a north wind in February and cut down the posts to ground level.

Other than that, I hope yall kill some.

What kind of big boat do you have that you don't want to poke a hole in...how selfish of you! The t-post add needed minerals to the marsh as they rust away.

And don't even get me started on the 7:31 comment. Lol

I don't mind the blinds at all... I just mind the ones that people abandon. It used to be just a few here and there, but now there are 2x4s, 4x4s, 4x6s and tposts all over the place. I was out there yesterday and was fishing in 3ft of water nearly a mile from shore and there were 6 tposts about an inch above the surface. There are easily 100 abandoned blinds in jacks pocket, if not more. Never fails that somebody will build one 50 yards from an old one instead of building theirs right on top of it. It wouldn't surprise me if Chambers County tried to enforce a permit program like is done on Wallisville, and I can't say I would really be opposed to it just so people would have to tear their blinds down each season.

I figure if you don't have a limit by 730, it aint gonna happen anyway. During big duck season, I give everybody til 9am. Now if the shooting is steady, I will wait a bit and I will never roll up and start casting in somebody's dekes, but there are just SO many folks out there now. Its nuts.

It was weird not seeing any birds out there though. I figure I would have at least jumped a group or two. But nothing. Plenty of folks scouting though.

I ran the flats from west of Red's to the East Shorline by the park. Only birds I saw were a couple of dozen mottled ducks jumped up by the GW airboat running around. I didn't ever really get up into the marsh besides running next to it in the bay waters up in the pockets. I didnt run all the way into crazy or long island, just the pocket shorelines.

I was out there all weekend. Mosquitos are terrible.

I have run that pocket all my life and it has never had as many obstacles as it does now. Not even after Rita or Ike. At least those obstacles weren't set 3 feet into the mud lol.

3 boating fatalities in that area in the last 3 years. Ya'll be careful. Lots of stuff to run into, lots of blind turns, lots of folks drinking. Sheriffs department has a new patrol rig out there too.

1) do not drink and operate your boat after gatorfest. The GWs will be in full force on the water and will give you a BWI. GWs were also out there yesterday marking duck blinds on GPS I guess. They bounced all around in the marsh in their airboat.

2) Make sure you know where you are going. There are some giant chunks of concrete in the middle of Anahuac pocket.

3) Might want to scout first. As of yesterday, there were no birds. Only mottle ducks.

4) I hope all yall are done by 730. At 731, Im coming up onto the flats in the big boat.

And for goodness sakes, if yall have permanent blinds or temporary blinds in the pocket, don't use t-posts and just leave them out there... and if you aren't going to use a blind anymore, go out there on a north wind in February and cut down the posts to ground level.

Other than that, I hope yall kill some.

x infinity ... that last part especailly. And also ...

5) You've GOT to be kidding me. They're TEAL. If it was loaded with sprigs, wigeon, and mallards ... ok. I get it. But, they're TEAL.

Duck Collector wrote:Yep to many old blind post out there. Cant even count how many i hit friday night...alot of that trash though is from all the cabins that litteraly blew up in the last hurricane.

Maybe it's time to organize a cleanup weekend...possibly after hunting season, but before it get too hot.

I'd be willing to help.

Sounds like a good idea but as much as i hate to say it....it would take months to to even pick half of that stuff up. The problem with having someone do something about all the old blind post is even though people may not realize it, its all private property south of the salt water barrier. The only true "public hunting" is in the project north of the salt water barrier.

Duck Collector wrote:Yep to many old blind post out there. Cant even count how many i hit friday night...alot of that trash though is from all the cabins that litteraly blew up in the last hurricane.

Maybe it's time to organize a cleanup weekend...possibly after hunting season, but before it get too hot.

I'd be willing to help.

Sounds like a good idea but as much as i hate to say it....it would take months to to even pick half of that stuff up. The problem with having someone do something about all the old blind post is even though people may not realize it, its all private property south of the salt water barrier. The only true "public hunting" is in the project north of the salt water barrier.

Only the marsh is like that, the actual pocket and navigatable waters are true public, and thats where the majority of the problem is. The private areas shouldn't be being accessed anyway.

It would take ALOT of man hours, but it would make it safer for boaters, hunters and gelcoats if somebody would go out there in February after a strong north wind in an airboat with a cordless dewalt saw and just cut the poles off flush with the bottom. You would have to do it under those conditions though. Trying to pull them out would be futile.

There are tons and tons and tons of storm debris that will never be able to be removed on the banks. Its an eyesore, but it will disentegrate one day.